Curry mile closed in Manchester as crowds gather to celebrate Afghan independence day last night

One of Manchester's busiest roads was closed by police for the second time in a week after hundreds of people gathered in the street to celebrate Afghan Independence Day.Huge crowds congregated on Wilmslow Road in Rusholme last night with video footage showed dozens of people lining the street waving flags and letting off flares.Police officers had to close a stretch of the road - known as Curry Mile - between Dickenson Road and Moss Lane East while the crowds were dispersed.Last night's celebrations have been criticised by a local councillor, who said people must not flout the current local lockdown rules banning large gatherings from taking place.Councillor Ahmed Ali, who represents Rusholme, said: "We don't mind people having celebrations but under the pandemic emergency regulations, we are not supposed to congregate in such ways or have parties and things like that.

"In Manchester, we are a diverse community and we have different languages, cultures and faiths."Ordinarily, there are about 60 or 70 celebrations of different cultures throughout the year."But we are not in 2018 or 2019, we are in 2020 and we are in an emergency pandemic. We cannot have people flouting the rules."

Afghan Independence Day is held annually on August 19 to mark Afghanistan regaining full independence from British influence with the signing of the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919.